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Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time we took a lung-charringly deep breath of the sulfur-tainted air in the Hell Garage (where the boombox refuses to play anything other than the 1910 Fruitgum Company), we learned that 54% of PCH readers prefer a Chevy-powered MGA to a Chevy-powered TR6 . Who knew? Today we're going to up the ante and go with a couple of relatively high-buck projects; one is a type of car we've seen before and the other is plenty obscure. After seeing that beautiful DOTS E-Type , it's hard not to yearn for a genunine, pre-Malaise XKE. The prices for nice ones are pretty brutal, unfortunately, but an enterprising gearhead such as yourself should be able to find a diamond-in-rough Jag and turn it into an envy-generator in no time! When you get a California car, such as this '67 XKE coupe , you don't even need to worry about rust... oh, wait. All right...
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The Austin-Healey 100 is a true British sports car, all right, but there's something missing . What could it be? Yes, of course- a Vortec-supercharged 5.3 liter Jaguar V12, which is what Canadian lunatic Martin Jansen has installed in this '54. We don't get any horsepower figures for the engine (which seems odd, considering the engine builder goes by the moniker of "Dyno Dave"), but it's a safe assumption that it's much, much, much more than the 90 horsepower of the original A-H four-cylinder. The build quality here is just staggeringly good and the whole setup somehow fits neatly under the hood. We have no choice but to give this engine swap an extra heavy-duty Jalopnik Stamp-O-Approval™! [BritishV8.org] galleryPost('V12AustinHealey', 9, 'Power To Weight Ratio Greatly Improved With Innovative Engine Swap');
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We had another close one yesterday, but the '69 Crown managed to edge out the '59 Datsun in the race to the Lake Of Fire in the Choose Your Eternity poll . We've seen some pretty affordable cars lately (well, affordable to start with, before you start buying parts), but what about Hell Projects that raise the pressure in the boiler by starting out with gut-punch price tags? You must finish a project that you spent 30 or 50 grand just acquiring, right? And if you need to spend $5,000 on a windshield or crankshaft... well, what choice do you have? Can't give up now! We've picked a couple of cars that, if restored, would bring tears to the eyes of vintage racers and eagle-eyed concours worshipers alike, and would fetch vast sums from the same crowd. If restored. Those who wanted to buy a new Mercedes-Benz 190SL roadster back in 1958 had to come up with $5,020, about $1,400 more than a new Corvette and about the same as a '58 Lincoln Capri hardtop. We're talking...
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Those of us who live in Alameda or Oakland might cringe a bit when our Berkeley neighbors once again make the national headlines for something silly, but the hometown of Philip K. Dick (not to mention plutonium) is a no-arguments international superpower when it comes to cool old cars- especially weird European machines- parked on the street. Citröens, 60s BMWs, and Fiats are all over Berkeley, and then there's the British stuff. Our friend and fellow Doctor of Automotive Journalism Davey Johnson was scarfing some grub at a B-town greasy spoon known as Chez Panisse when he spotted this Jag parked outside and was kind enough to send us his photos. Make the jump to read Herr Johnson's description. galleryPost('DOTSBEBerkeleyXK', 9, 'Jaguar XK140 Down On The Berkeley Street'); Saw this parked on the street in front of Chez Panisse yesterday. Chatted with the owner for a bit. He's owned the car for 25 years and restored it twice. In good weather, he drives it three...
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newVideoPlayer("Pretty_Polly_Stockings_Jag_476.flv", 494, 410,""); So we got this babe driving down the coast in an old Jaguar and the Charge light comes on. What to do? Why, whip off one of her Pretty Polly stockings and tie it into the exact right length for use as a fan belt (we don't see her adjusting the tension, but we must assume that she's carrying a major set of tools if she's driving that thing out of sight of her garage). What happens next? It probably went like this: Sure, you'd figure there'd be a strict cause/effect relationship between the broken fan belt and the Charge light... but you'd be wrong! There's no such thing as a single equipment failure on an old British car; the broken belt was just a distraction from the real problem. Bad generator? Several connectors going bad at the same moment? Whatever it is, that other stocking isn't going to be much help when the next breakdown takes place a few miles down the coast...
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The V12 Jagchero vaporized the Electric Renault R10 in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity voting , but the lopsidedness of the matchup had some supporters of liberty, equality, and eternal torment crying foul. It's bad enough that the British entry was packing a V12 versus the French car's electric motor, but to make a sedan compete against a Rancheroized machine? That's why it's only fair that we have a PCH Superpower rematch today, featuring a more level playing field and one Bargain Hell Project from each side of the Channel. Those postwar Jag saloons sure are pretty, aren't they? For most of us, ownership of such a rare and valuable cat has seemed so far out of reach that we've never even contemplated it. It turns out we've all been too pessimistic! You can get a 55-year-old Jaguar saloon for the price of a 15-year-old beater Civic! Can't believe it? Take a gander at this 1953 Jaguar Mark VII , my friends, and witness the easy attainability of your...
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